


Patience and Happiness

by Lady_Blackhawk



Series: The In-Between of Alex and Charlie [1]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: M/M, semi-introspective, sweeet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24824302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Blackhawk/pseuds/Lady_Blackhawk
Summary: One conversation Charlie has about Alex, and 2 conversations Alex has about Charlie and the realization that our boy deserves to be happy.
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Alex Standall
Series: The In-Between of Alex and Charlie [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796161
Comments: 12
Kudos: 106





	Patience and Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> So...this is the first fic I have written outside my usual fandom...in literally years. But I wanted to add to the lack of Charlie/Alex fics. Because we need ALL the fics.

Tony knew Alex was going to come to him eventually. He didn’t expect Charlie to come to him first. He called him and asked to meet him at Monet’s. That was indeed surprising.

When he arrived, Charlie was already sitting there, with a book in his hand. He plopped down in a chair beside him. “You ok?” Tony had asked.

Charlie jumped slightly, “oh…yeah. My head was pounding after the riot. But it’s all good. Promise.” He smiled brightly. “Do you want coffee or anything?”

“Uh, no. Thanks though. What did you want to talk about?” Of course, Tony already knew exactly what the specific topic was going to be. Charlie bit his lip slightly. “Right.” Alex. It went unsaid. “Aren’t you two dating now, since the drill?”

“I think he likes me.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have kissed you, if he didn’t.”

“Right. But the thing is…since then…I don’t know if he’s not into PDA, or if it’s his self-esteem issues or both. But…I don’t really know how to show him that he matters and that he deserves to be happy. I tried talking to him after school, we were on the pier and he just, kind of blew me off, because he doesn’t think he deserves to be loved…he’s been through a lot, and I just…I want to hug him and make the rest of the world go away.” Tony tried not to hide his own smile. Charlie and Alex were tooth-rotting.

“Have you tried talking to him?” Charlie sent him a look. “Right. Given how he jumped when I walked in, I think he’s still trying to figure out what this all means. Maybe being there for him as he figures all that out will help.”

“Is there…do you think…I’m sorry to ask this, but do you think part of him is also reluctant to do anything serious because he’s afraid of the unknown, or because of all the crap that happened between him and Jessica?”

Tony sighed. “That’s something you’ll have to ask Alex, or maybe Zach. I don’t know anything about what went on between Jessica and Alex. I’m not even that good at advice. Caleb’s better at it. I think that being there for Alex is the most important thing. He’ll come around, he just needs a little extra time to process.”

Charlie nodded.

Sometime earlier

Alex wanted to go and talk to Tony. He really did. Alex kept his emotions bottled up, for the most part. Few people knew anyway. Winston…that was a bad idea. Zach… who wasn’t there half the time and when he was, wasn’t sober, was not an option. Ani…absolutely not. All his friends had found out about him and Winston, thanks to Ani and Clay. And although everyone knew, and everyone had made judgments, whether they intended to or not… there was one person who wasn’t going to, who wouldn’t judge him. But who knew about him and Charlie? Tony sure, but he felt a bit awkward ever since their fight during the shooter drill. But who to turn to? He needed someone. Maybe not the someone who knew everything, but then someone who wouldn’t judge, who would be honest, and listen, and offer earnest advice.

He spilled everything, the three of them hanging out and watching movies, going to see the shops and their decorations together, and spending every moment over winter break and the latter half of the semester, studying for finals together too. Everything that happened during the lockdown.

“So, you’re saying you like Charlie, but that actually kind of freaks you out?” asked Tyler, as they both stood in the yearbook room. He had filled him in on everything that had happened to him during the lockdown. Tyler was far more observant than people gave him credit for.

“um…”

“Cause it’s ok to be freaked out and unsure of who you are, but it’s also ok to like Charlie. Everyone likes Charlie. He’s really nice.” Alex smiled. Tyler had a point.

“But I don’t even know if I’m gay.” Tried Alex. “I mean I always noticed guys, but…”

“That’s ok too, isn’t it?” asked Tyler. “I mean if you like Charlie, and you want to be with him, does it really matter if you don’t put a title on your sexuality?”

Damn it. Tyler was good at this. “It’s not just that though….”

“Charlie’s liked you for a while. He just didn’t think he’d have a chance,” explained Tyler. “The culture at this school isn’t the best. But I think Jess and the HO did manage to make a difference. The guys from the team have been a lot nicer since Charlie became captain. And he told me the team pretty much knows he’s not straight so…”

It wasn’t exactly what Alex was looking for in an answer. Granted he wasn’t sure what the answer needed to be in the first place. “You’re my friend Alex and you’ve been through a lot. I think you should let yourself be happy.”

Alex choked “Um…yeah. Well…I got into Berkley.”

“See, you’re long overdue for some good things to happen to you. And don’t tell Charlie how he’s supposed to feel. People don’t like that. You can explain all your doubts to him and then he’ll tell you why they’re wrong. I think that’ll be good for you, to have someone who loves you like that.”

“When did you get so good at giving advice?” asked Alex with a smile.

Tyler looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Hanging out with you, and Clay, and everyone.”

Zach figured Alex probably wasn’t straight a while ago. He won’t go into detail as to what exactly gave him a clue though, he’d keep that between him and Alex. And then yeah, his best friend kissing him was kind of weird. But like, hey, it happens and Alex was still his friend. He wasn’t able to be a friend to anyone right now, and well, at least he still considered Alex a friend. But he felt slightly more sober than he had been when he took an aluminum bat to the school windows.

But that wasn’t the point. The point is that after the shooter drill, Zach took a moment to reflect, after spending however long a time with Winston in the yearbook room. Alex deserved someone to love him, and that wasn’t going to be Winston, that much was obvious from the moment he realized what he was after. Alex would have been collateral damage in Winston’s quest to absolve Monty of murder. Murder or not, Monty deserved to be in jail, he may not have deserved to die. But he deserved to be in jail.

And then he was in the library the following day like nothing happened, and there was Charlie, who beelined it right to Alex, and…well, that had been unexpected. But not outside the realm of possibility. Zach vaguely remembered telling Charlie not to listen to everything Monty says and I guess he had listened, or maybe he didn’t need to listen and all his comments were a farce to be nice to Monty and to fit in with the football team. Zach didn’t know for sure. But he did know a few things. Charlie had liked Alex, but did Alex like Charlie? He had to! Everyone loved Charlie. He was impossible to hate. The hushed whispering that followed Charlie's attempt at a kiss proved it to Zach. Something was going and Alex liked Charlie.

“Are you and Charlie, like a thing now?” asked Zach as they barricaded themselves inside the school’s main office to hide from the cops, in the middle of what was now far from a peaceful demonstration.

Alex didn’t reply at first after they had piled stuff on top of the printer to keep people from getting in. “we…what?”

“I saw you guys in the library, it looked like you guys were a thing.”

“…We kind of had a moment after the shooter drill…but I just…I…I don’t know. I don’t feel like I deserve to be happy.”

Zach stops for a moment and looks at him. “Dude, of course, you do. You’ve been through hell and back, like literally. You should be happy. Someone in this weird group of degenerates and weirdoes needs to be happy. I vote you.”

“You can be happy too,” Alex pointed out as he grabbed a chair on wheels and started to wheel himself around.

“Eh, I’m pretty much set to a future, without a future, but you, my friend, you got into Berkeley. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you now.”

Alex snorts.

“I’m serious. Charlie’s like perfect for you.”

“How’d you figure that?”

“He’s going to love you unconditionally, and will always be happy to see you, he’s either a perfect ray of sunshine or a golden retriever. Win! Win! I mean, you like him, right?”

“Well…yeah. But…”

“And he treats you right?”

“Of course, it’s Charlie.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

Alex shook his head, there were a lot of problems, so as Zach wondered into Foundry’s office, Alex took his chair to look at other random things, and a very dusty old dictionary that looked like it hadn’t been used since the First Gulf War.

Maybe Zach had a point, Charlie was sweet and kind, and he baked amazing cookies, and damn it all because Alex felt normal around him as if there was nothing wrong with him. Even though he knew there was.

Shortly thereafter Zach tells him to go find Charlie, and yeah. He does need to find him. He needs to find Charlie and apologize and hear him out, and talk to him.

And he does. Alex finds him passed out, knocked out. Oh no. He feels a lump in his throat. Charlie needs to wake up. He needs to wake up right now and be ok.

It’s days later when he and Charlie lie down on his bed and Charlie looks at him with that silly, goofy smile, that for a second, Alex thinks, “Ok. Maybe I can be just a little happy for a minute. 


End file.
